American West Metals is looking to expand its already solid mineral resource at its Storm copper project in Canada with a high-powered electromagnetic survey set to deliver priority drill targets at the site.
Earlier this year, the company unveiled a maiden resource for its operation on Somerset Island in the Canadian province of Nunavut of 17.5 million tonnes at 1.2 per cent copper and 3.4g/t silver after just one season of resource drilling.
The moving loop electromagnetic survey will initially focus on the existing Storm copper deposits to test for extensions both along strike and beneath the known mineralisation with more than 50 line-kms planned.
Once the initial survey at Storm is completed, the survey will move to test several high-grade discoveries at the Blizzard, Tornado and Tempest prospects which were not included in the maiden mineral resource at the project.
Just last year American West got onto some crazy good grades of 38.2 per cent copper and 30.87 per cent zinc from geochemical sampling at Tempest.
Management says electromagnetic surveys have been confirmed by drilling as the most effective targeting tool in exploration for high-grade copper sulphides at the Storm project. Multiple historical surveys using both airborne and ground electromagnetic systems have resulted in the discovery of the majority of the known copper deposits in the area.
American West Metals managing director David O’Neill said: “With boots now on the ground, the start is imminent for an exciting 2024 field program at Storm with a schedule of geophysics and drilling on a scale that is designed to significantly grow the copper resources at Storm. There are numerous underexplored targets within the highly prospective, 100km strike length of the copper belt within our project tenure.”
The Storm deposit remains open in all directions and does not include several high-grade discoveries where drilling has delivered 48.6m at 3 per cent copper from Thunder and 15.2m going 2.3 per cent copper in addition to 15.2m at 2.1 per cent copper from the Lightning Ridge target. The Cyclone North discovery that unearthed a 7.6m hit at 1 per cent copper has also not been included in the maiden mineral resource.
Management says the shallow nature, favourable geometry and high copper grades of the Storm deposits have set the foundation for what it believes will be a large-scale, open-pit copper mining camp in the area.
The survey will also aim to fill gaps where historical surveys were completed and acquire higher resolution data for the greater Storm area.
American West already has plans for a combined 22,000m of reverse-circulation (RC) and diamond drilling which is set to kick off in about two weeks in a bid to build on its current copper inventory and explore the emerging sedimentary copper system at its Canadian operation.
The company says its latest surveys will be the most powerful to date - more than twice as powerful as prior surveys - which it believes will unlock new exploration areas and result in more copper discoveries.
After a period of relative slumber copper looks set to make a come back and soon, with a number of big financial players now predicting some wild price increases and supply shortages.
Earlier this year investment bank Goldman Sachs projected a copper deficit of over 500,000 tonnes in the market for the year 2024 and its analysts are saying the copper price could reach a high this year of $15,000 per tonne, which would represent a price hike of around 70 per cent compared to the current price.
Mid last year mega-miner and Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland was quoted in relation to the looming copper supply shortage saying “We’re heading for a train wreck here. My fear is that when push finally comes to shove copper can go up 10 times.”
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By Michael Philipps
